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Customer experience leaders now have more data available to them than ever before, thanks to the leaps and bounds technology has made. The problem? These massive amounts of data aren't always so easy to thoroughly ingest, analyze and leverage.
Enter the customer data platform (CDP). These solutions aggregate all kinds of structured and unstructured data from multiple sources to create a single unified repository, which companies can use to create detailed profiles of their customers and send this information to other marketing technology systems within their organization.
Having this ability can be a game changer for brands looking to realize the potential of their data and elevate the customer experience, which is why it’s worth understanding how to do it right.
Benefits and Use Cases
As mentioned above, CDPs bring together customer data under a single platform. Companies typically find that doing so can eliminate data silos, or pockets of data owned by one department or function that others don’t have access to.
Eliminating these silos unlocks a range of other benefits. For one, at a time when 71% of consumers say they expect personalized experiences when interacting online with the brands and businesses they choose, a thorough profile on a customer’s preferences and behaviors allow brands to quickly figure out what products or services will resonate with them the most.
Having data in one place can also create new efficiencies for customer experience departments. Not only do agents and other representatives not have to waste time tracking down or requesting data from different departments, but they can rest assured that their CDP contains the most up-to-date information possible.
Finally, while having an omnichannel presence is important, so is making sure your customers aren’t getting whiplash when they switch channels. CDPs can support consistency by, for example, using prior purchase data to inform offers and experiences a customer can access across email, social media and your website.
Ensuring Proper Integration and Strong Data Privacy
Because they function as a “central hub” for data that exists across your entire marketing technology stack, the only way to truly secure the benefits of a CDP is to properly integrate it. During the implementation process, however, there are a number of integration challenges that can come up, including:
Different data sources and formats: Because data may be stored in different formats, structures, or systems, it can be challenging to unify and normalize all of it within the CDP.
Data quality and cleansing: Cleaning and ensuring the accuracy and consistency of data across different sources can be time-consuming.
Legacy system compatibility: if the legacy systems lack modern integration interfaces or capabilities, you may need custom development, middleware, or data transformation techniques to establish compatibility.
Data governance and privacy: Implementing a CDP involves handling sensitive customer data. While integrating data while maintaining privacy and security standards can be tricky, it’s a must-do. In a recent survey, 65% of consumers ranked ‘misuse of personal data’ as the top reason they would lose trust in a brand.
On the last point, there are numerous steps companies can take to address any data security concerns. These include understanding and complying with regional regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Companies can also minimize the collection of personally identifiable information (PII), anonymize customer data, implement consent mechanisms and establish data retention and deletion policies.
Because the integration process is so complex, it will require collaboration across teams including marketing, IT, customer service and data governance. To gain alignment, marketing teams can start by identifying two to three primary use cases for their CDP and building support around that. Teams can also minimize the workload involved for IT by cleaning up and preparing data before it’s brought into the CDP.
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Selecting a CDP Vendor
Selecting a CDP vendor is no small task. For one, the CDP vendor landscape is wide: Data Bridge Market Research found that the market was valued at $4.67 billion in 2022.
Furthermore, different CDPs are designed to handle different pain points, so you’ll need to decide what is most important for your company to solve – whether that’s data ingestion overload, difficulty data sharing, predictive modeling or customer lifecycle management.
Determining your needs and use cases is a good place to start, and an opportunity to maximize value while minimizing costs. Depending on your needs and existing capabilities, you may not need a vendor that “can do it all.”
Companies should also critically evaluate what level of support their vendor is prepared to provide during deployment. You may need more or less, depending on what skills and services your internal marketing and IT teams have to offer, as well as their bandwidth for maintenance responsibilities. Regardless, you should look for a CDP vendor that can offer robust training and product support.
Conclusion
CDPs create a world of possibilities for data-rich organizations that have previously struggled to understand and cater their customers.
Furthermore, as generative AI takes its hold on the customer experience field, having clean, unified data centrally available may allow companies to train it more easily and compound the value of the two technologies. Some CDP vendors have already begun weaving generative AI into their products, but companies should look for a partner who understands how to manage the technical and ethical considerations.
Ultimately, Getting started with a CDP today can help organizations unlock both near-term and long-term success for their brand and customers.
Learn more about creating great digital experiences for your customers with Progress Sitefinity.
